Gratitude * BIWOC Poet Spotlight * #GivingTuesday

PUBLISHING NEW WOMEN POETS SINCE 1997

We are so grateful to & for our community

Thank you to the over 500 women who sent us your work for the 2021 Perugia Press Prize for a first or second book of poetry by a woman. We're honored that you consider Perugia Press as a potential home for your collection, and we look forward to reading your words over these next months. Your submissions help to support our small press, and we could not publish and support the poets we do without the fleet of poets who participate in our annual contest. Thank you, each and all.

We are also indebted to our community of volunteer readers, contest judges, board members, those who buy, read, teach, and review our books, those who attend readings given by our poets, those who donate to our nonprofit press, and, of course, each one of our poets.

Abundant thanks to all who contribute to Perugia Press's mission.

Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight

November 2020 Poet: Donika Kelly

photo by Ladan Osman

Love Poem: Chimera

I thought myself lion and serpent. Thought

myself body enough for two, for we.

Found comfort in never being lonely.

What burst from my back, from my bones, what lived

along the ridge from crown to crown, from mane

to forked tongue beneath the skin. What clamor

we made in the birthing. What hiss and rumble

at the splitting, at the horns and beard,

at the glottal bleat. What bridges our back.

What strong neck, what bright eye. What menagerie

are we. What we’ve made of ourselves.

from BESTIARY (Graywolf Press)

To read more about this poet and her work, check out our blog.

Please remember us on #GivingTuesday

Tuesday, December 1 is #GivingTuesday, a day of giving to support your favorite nonprofits and the work that they do. We'll be kicking off our year-end fundraiser then, and we hope that you will consider Perugia Press when you are choosing where you can give this year. You can donate in December through our Facebook fundraiser, or at any time on our website through the secure Donorbox platform, which includes the option of one-time gifts or recurring monthly donations of any size, which help sustain our press.

Buying books is also a great way to support not only our press and poets, but also the organizations we donate a portion of our book sales to at year's end (the Audre Lorde Project, the National Black Women's Justice Institute, and the Hurston/Wright Foundation). Books also make great gifts, and our latest release, Jacqueline Balderrama's Now in Color, is on sale for 20% off with the coupon code "November" through the end of this month (and will come with a bookplate signed by the poet). Check out all our beautiful books at the bookshop on our website.

PERUGIA PRESS

PO Box 60364, Florence, MA 01062